Nant Holdings received 1 granted patent this quarter in the area of Monetization.
The patent covers a system for location-based virtual goods transactions, allowing mobile devices to scan real-world environments and trigger purchases of digital game items from nearby merchants. This approach links physical retail locations with in-game commerce through augmented reality scanning capabilities.
The single Monetization patent describes a system where players can acquire virtual game items by scanning their physical surroundings with a mobile device. When the device captures a real-world scene, the system identifies the user's location and connects it to nearby merchants who offer digital goods for purchase within the game. The technical approach centers on a reconciliation matrix that maps location-derived attributes from the captured imagery to available virtual items, then handles multi-account settlement between players, merchants, and game providers. This differs from earlier systems by using environmental image recognition to initiate transactions rather than relying on NFC tags or barcode scans, and by supporting transactions across multiple parties instead of limiting purchases to a single closed ecosystem.
All data sourced from USPTO patent filings. Google Patents may take several weeks to index recent publications. If a link is unavailable, search for the patent number at USPTO Patent Public Search.